Re: Country Names -- Local Pronunciations

And Rosta scripsit:

> As for [INgl] versus [INl], this is pretty much subject to idiolectal
> variation among speakers who contrast [Ng] and [N] -- I for example
> say [INl@n(d)] & am not unusual in this, though it is a minority
> pronunciation. The phenomenon is not restricted to this word -- the
> [g] deletes before sonorants in general, e.g. [laNwIdZ] v. [laNgwidZ]
> -- I say the former & I guess Joe says the latter.
Damn it all to Hell, now I've been contaminated and don't know whether
I have [Ng] or [N] in "England".  I somehow feel as if it's [N] in this
particular word, though I certainly have [Ng] in "language" and "English".

Also, is "I guess" in the sense of "I suppose" reappearing in English
English again after a 400-year hiatus?  When Gandalf uses it[1], it
must have looked like a deliberate archaism, although it seems perfectly
normal over here.

[1] "I guess they [Gollum's people] were of hobbit-kind; akin to the
fathers of the fathers of the Stoors."  In a letter JRRT writes that by
"I guess" Gandalf actually means "I deduce".

--
John Cowan                              jcowan@reutershealth.com
http://www.reutershealth.com            http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Humpty Dump Dublin squeaks through his norse
                Humpty Dump Dublin hath a horrible vorse
But for all his kinks English / And his irismanx brogues
                Humpty Dump Dublin's grandada of all rogues.  --Cousin James

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